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Cara Delevingne Just Opened Up About Depression and Mental Health

Cara Delevingne is much different than she used to be a few years ago. Circa 2013, when she started the bold brow revolution, she was one of the world's most in-demand supermodels, appearing on catwalks at every major fashion week, and in multimillion-dollar ad campaigns. Since then, she's branched out to other pursuits, film being a major one. She's also written a young adult novel titled Mirror Mirror that launches everywhere next week. (Supermodel, film star, and now author? She's a talented woman). According to an interview with Net-a-Porter's The Edit, even though she's never dabbled into the world of literature before, writing for a young adult audience was easy for her since she so clearly remembers her own adolescence and the war she waged with depression throughout it.

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Getty/Victor Chavez

According to Delevingne, it all began from issues in school. "If I fail at something, it's the worst thing in the world because I never forgive myself," she said. "I didn't feel like I was ever good enough. The fact I couldn't do as well as other people made me hate myself. And you're made to feel that once you get a mark, like a C, that's your mark in life; that's you as a human being. That really sat with me for a long time."

From school, her self-hatred began to grow into other areas, including her social life. "I always felt pretty weird and different as a kid, and that feeling was something I didn't understand, or know how to express," said. "I wish I could have given myself a hug. I wish I'd known that I was still in there somewhere, that I wasn't my own worst enemy, that I wasn't trapped. That if you can hold on for dear life — because being a teenager can feel like you're on a rollercoaster to hell, that's what it honestly felt like to me — you can get through it. Time moves on, feelings pass, it does get better."

We commend her for being open and honest about her experience with depression. When people are vocal about their mental health, it encourages others to do the same, especially when it comes from an international influencer like Delevingne. And honestly, talking about it is the only way to de-stigmatize it. Even though these issues are super common, keeping quiet about them encourages a sense of shame and alienation, which no one should ever feel.

Now, at 25 years old, Delevingne can impart her experience and wisdom on others. Like this wisdom: "I know it sounds really stupid, but I relied too much on love, too much on other people to make me happy, and I needed to learn to be happy by myself," she said. "So now I can be by myself, I can be happy. It took me a long time."